Review: Go

This was an interesting sequel to the DVD Invisible Children. Invisible Children, among its other work, raises money to help build and set up schools in Uganda, especially in the north (the area most affected by the LRA). They set up a challenge to raise a million dollars in 100 days, and rewarded twenty of the participants with a trip to Uganda. This DVD tracks some of the stories of these people, and the youth in Uganda who they connect with.

This DVD was interesting, mostly in the connections it made between the youth from America and the youth in Uganda. The DVD was keen to point out that in spite of the troubles that the Ugandan youth face, they are very similar to the Americans.

At the same time the DVD does very much highlight the trials that the Ugandan youth face, sometimes to a level that I think is too much (both in terms of manipulating the audience and of not being properly respectful of the Ugandan’s rights for privacy especially in terms of very traumatic events). That said, there are few groups that really highlight the trials that people in similar situations go through, so the Invisible Children organisation is doing a valuable work.

Keep in mind that this DVD is made by Christians, most of the people involved (both American and Ugandan) are Christians, but it is not an exclusively Christian DVD. There is little directly about God. There are a variety of reasons for this, among one is that Uganda does not need evangelisation (it is approximately 80% Christian) but it does need massive discipleship and financial assistance. These are part of our Christian duty as well as preaching the gospel (see James 1:27 for the classic verse on this point), and Go is a useful DVD to think about these issues and how we can help people in Uganda and around the world.